Dr Nashra Pistawala

I am a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick, working on the 'Single Crystal Growth at Warwick' project under the supervision of Prof. Geetha Balakrishnan and Dr. Daniel Mayoh.

Overview of my research work

My research focuses on the design, synthesis, and crystal growth of Quantum materials, with the aim of exploring and understanding the exotic physical phenomena that arise in these materials from the interplay between lattice, orbital, electronic, and spin degrees of freedom.

To synthesize these materials in their purest form, high-quality single crystals of these materials are grown using a variety of techniques, which include the vapor transport method (CVT and PVT), the Bridgman method, the Optical floating zone technique, etc. The structural properties of grown single crystals are examined using different diffraction tools like Laue diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

The magnetic, thermal, and electronic properties of these quantum materials are then investigated using low-temperature probes. Neutron scattering and muon spin relaxation techniques are further used to meticulously understand the ground state of these systems.

Publications highlights

A full and up-to-date list of all my publications (including the number of citations) can be found by visiting the Google Scholar page

1. • Pistawala et al. Anisotropic magnetic ground state of single-crystalline quasi-two-dimensional honeycomb antiferromagnet YbI₃, Phys. Rev. B 110, 104421 (2024)
   • Pistawala et al. Crystal growth, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of S = 1/2 quantum antiferromagnet CeCl₃, Phys. Rev. Materials 8, 076201 (2024)
   • Pistawala et al. Probing electron–phonon coupling in magnetic van der Waals material NiPS₃: A non-magnetic site-dilution study, 2D Materials, Volume 11, Number 2 (2024)
   • Pistawala et al. Crystal growth of quantum materials: a review of selective materials and techniques, Bull Mater Sci 45, 10 (2022)

Teaching duties

Teaching assistantship conducted for three different Physics laboratory courses for BSc-MSc students at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune from August 2019 to January 2022.